Danny Phantom, The Lost Arc- Part One
by dannyphanwriter
Summary: Dream demons were always a nuisance. One, Vladimir was all too accustomed to dealing with in his line of work. The aching blackness? The hollow eyes? And worse still? A certain young half-ghost is now trapped in the illusion. One truth becomes evident: Dreams can be bittersweet, but reality is where the true nightmares lie.


Frowning slightly, he made two duplicates this time. Carefully grabbing onto Vlad's shoulder blades they suspended him up so Daniel could remove the now completely bled through bandages. Vlad's shirt lay on the bench seat next to him in a ruffled heap from where the left clone had tossed it. Vlad groaned in his sleep but didn't stir from the movements. The palm still glowed and buzzed but seemed to be getting fainter. Putting a hand to Vlad he turned the medical wrappings intangible and yanked them off.

Jaz, seeing the extent of the damage, stumbled and almost fell backward. "Danny? What happened to him?"

Daniel grimaced. "Me."

Jaz looked from Vlad's bleeding and heavily damaged chest to Daniel worriedly. "What are you talking about?"

Sighing Daniel gently lifted up Vlad's neck to expose the fading burns ribbed across his flesh and then overlapped his hand to the marks. Jaz paled considerably at the sight.

Daniel gently began cleaning off the blood on Vlad's chest with a towel he had snatched from the upstairs storage closet. " Jaz? He went into the Ghost Zone to save me and I tried to murder him in cold blood. You know that ghost I told you about? Nocturn? Well, Vlad somehow found me out there and tried waking me up. I think he probably used possession. He showed up in my dream… right after Sam was murdered and I...I just lost it." Daniel clenched his fists bitterly. " I was ripping him apart, shooting him, burning through his neck… and he didn't even raise a fist at me…. and then to top everything off?" Daniel gulped. Tracing a hand across Vlad's wounds he began medically taping the edges together. "God...Jaz. While I was at the hospital he was bleeding to death on the floor a few feet away from us…"

Jaz grimaced and looked to Vlad as she addressed Daniel again, this time stepping forward to help wrap the adult. " Daniel? Are you sure he shouldn't be in a hospital?"

Daniel frowned. " How would he or we explain away finger-shaped brand marks? Or all of these scars I've yet to figure out? I mean look at him!"

He stopped his wrapping and pointed a hand to a large pink scar looped across Vlad's right shoulder in a crescent. "That's a bite mark! Heck, he's riddled with all sorts of bizarre scars under his clothes. I think there are even bullet marks…. He looks like he's been tortured for Christ's sake! I'm sure that would just go over wonderfully with the ER. Don't you?"

Jazmine traced another scar on Vlad's left shoulder curiously. It looked like a claw mark and beside it, there were two large circular scars rimmed by paper puncher sized holes, long ago sealed over. "No need for the sarcasm...I get what you're saying." Finishing the wrapping, Daniel motioned his clones to lay Vlad back down. The adult stirred slightly and tried to wake up. Jazmine, noting the movement, ticked her head toward the adult to direct Daniel's attention.

Daniel still oblivious to the movement, had turned to put the rest of the supplies back up. In an annoyed growl, he ranted." To add to this? When I found him yesterday he was completely drunk. We're talking 1,000 times the legal limit. I'm pretty sure a normal person would get drunk from a glass or two of Jack Daniel's or scotch, but seven bottles?"

Daniel wrung a hand through his white hair in annoyance. Vlad's eyes slowly started to open and his palm flashed. Seeing the light out of the corner of his eye, Daniel walked over to the adult and tried to get him to focus. Both clones dissipated. "Yo!?Earth to Fruit-loop? Do you read?"

Vlad stared incoherently at the teen. Shakily reaching a hand out, he limply laid it on Daniel's shoulder. " Heads ringing….but I think… I read you…" He grimaced and moaned from the movement. "... I think…. overdid painkillers… Ed wasn't here…. tried booze…and the fever wouldn't go…."

Jaz looked just as confused as Daniel at the name. " Who's Ed?" She hissed to Daniel. Daniel shrugged.

Vlad turning from the teen ranted under his breath. " ..Stupid… green… runt..never should've upgraded…. Romulus is way more…responsible..."

"Wait… green?" Daniel paused in thought. Realizing Vlad was still out of it he gently shook the adult's shoulder. "You're talking about Skulker, right?"

Vlad groaned at the name. "Asked' the idiot to go searching… Him and Romulus both… Haven't seen them in a week… Already found the island and got...rid of it…"

Daniel's curiosity was peaked now. "Got rid of what?"

Vlad shook his head. "Another… one… dream stealer...was almost too late…. the pulse was fading…" Daniel froze.

Vlad, tired, grudgingly began closing his eyes. "... It's been….weeks…. Sleep...I need...sleep…. but it hurts…." Vlad tiredly turned on his side and clutched his chest. Still facing Daniel he smiled warmly. His eyes, however, were hazy. Daniel's neon green eyes widened in shock and astonishment. "... Shouldn't have drank… Blood is not normal… transferred to ghost half….everything's mush…." He rolled his eyes. "Used seal… to much…M' stupid…"

Jaz giggled slightly at this. Leaning in to inspect the adult, she smiled. Turning to Daniel she elbowed him, "Danny? I think he's delirious from blood loss…" Daniel smiled slightly at this. " Yeah… that and the residual alcohol in his system …"

" Fruit-loop? Your job? What is it?" Daniel asked hoping the man's inebriated state would yield the answer.

Vlad's brow furrowed slightly. " … Promised… wouldn't tell… promised to lie… that's the plan… don't get involved… stupid plan…. brat got hurt…" Vlad was slipping again.

Daniel, now even more curious about the babbling, shook the adult roughly. " Your job Vlad? What is it?" Daniel questioned louder.

"….. -demons… artifacts…. get rid of… regulate...kill…really hate my job…m' a halfa target board..." Vlad's eyes were closing.

Jaz put a hand to Daniel's and sighed in exasperation. " Daniel? He's not making sense. Let him go to sleep. I think the strain is messing with his head." Daniel, however, suspected the opposite. In the last twenty- four hours, he had realized something. Vlad wasn't honest unless he was to out of it to realize what he was saying. Whatever he was blabbing about and his expressions while he talked were all genuine. Daniel grabbed the discarded shirt and gently put in on Vlad. Sighing, he relented his mental frustrations and gently picked the now unconscious adult up off of the table.

" Jaz? I'm going to take him upstairs and put him back in bed. Do me a favor and don't go wandering around? This place is just as confusing and weird as that conversation we were just having with him…" Jaz raised an eyebrow. " I'll take your word for it."

Floating into the upstairs bedroom and setting Vlad down on the bed, Daniel began tucking him in. Vlad turned slightly in his sleep. " Fruit-loop… When you actually wake up later today, you are going to have a hell ton to explain…."

Phasing through the floor he happily noted Jaz turning off the burner on the stove.

Shifting back to Daniel Fenton, he tiredly mused, "I've searched this entire house practically for clues...and it's just making my head hurt worse…. Jaz? He has a box upstairs full of photos of him and dad…. and then there's the weird library… and, of course, I can't neglect to mention the abandoned room behind the stairs…"

Jaz raised an eyebrow. " Wait? Photos? That doesn't make any sense…"

Daniel rubbed a palm to his face, "Neither does Plasmius saving me or his fever last night. Jaz he topped one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit. I thought he was toast. In fact, I'm fairly sure he would be if I hadn't cooled him down. Everything is a freaking contradiction. When he had his fever yesterday? He was begging and crying out for Dad. What even? And let's not forget him apologizing in his drunken stupor as well…to me, dad, mom…The list just keeps on going!"

Jaz was looking warily at the ceiling. " Yeah… this is really weird Daniel… but then again… he hasn't exactly been acting evil lately has he?"

Daniel nodded. " Yeah, I noticed. I'm even starting to think he's been bluffing for a while now… He is half ghost for god's sake! If he wanted he could probably just kill dad off in some freak accident, he's smart. I know he knows that's an option. But does he ever commit? Nope. Zip. Nada."

Jaz nodded. " I'm confused… really, really confused by all of this…"

Daniel groaned. Turning to face her he flatly sighed, " Jaz? I'll figure this out. You saw his condition. He won't be out of bed for at least another day and a half. Maybe three. Those cuts and burns are deep. Tell mom and dad I'm helping Vlad out for a few days 'kay?"

Pursing her lips she frowned. "Danny… are you sure? I mean… the cloning thing? Flirting with mom? The whole Pariah Dark incident? The portal stealing? That Red Huntress chick you were telling me about? The nanobots? I can't forgive him for what he's done."

Daniel tiredly shrugged his shoulders. " Who said I was going to forgive him? I can, however, try to understand him and maybe he can change for the better…"

Jaz sighed. "Okay...okay… that's fair I guess….But, I will be checking in every day. You yourself just got out of the hospital yesterday."

Grinning, Daniel lifted his shirt and tore off the bandage on his chest. A pale circular scar shined mockingly. In an annoying voice, he boomed, " I am Iron Man."

" You mean moron man?" Jaz leered and rolled her eyes. Daniel in response snickered. "Hey! It's not nice to pick on someone when they're out of earshot." He pointed to the ceiling and she smiled.

" I'm still going to drop by. You need clothes for the week, and a phone charger, right? I'll go home and pack you some stuff. That alright with you?"

" _Suuuurrre mom_… whatever you say."

Sticking out her tongue she walked to the counter and picked up her keys. "See you in a few hours."

"See you Jaz." She then departed, leaving Daniel to cut the stove back on. Adding the carrots he paused in thought.

Vlad's words were still clanking around in his brain. _"Another… one… dream stealer...was almost too late…. the pulse was fading…"_ Ten minutes passed slowly as he tried to decipher Vlad's words.

'Dream stealer. He was talking about Nocturn. And the pulse thing he mentioned….he must have been talking about me...the question is what did he mean by another one?'

Another word flashed to mind and Daniel nearly dropped the bag of pasta in his hands. _"Demons."_

"I think… I think I need a third party opinion…" Looking at the ceiling, he groaned as he felt the completely dead cellular device in his jeans. "Well. I could use the office phone to call Sam but I don't have her number memorized because her mom made her change it."

Bitterly putting the lid back on the pot, he snarled, " That and Friar Tuck is useless with occultism. I'd be like asking me to do advanced Trigonometry with a toothpick for a pencil…"

Sighing, he absently tossed in the noodles and some celery flakes. Looking around the kitchen he took note of the rather simple layout.

'Huh... You walk through the door and to your right there's the pantry. Walk forward and you hit the island, the fridge, and the sink. Go over a ways to your right and you reach the stove and the breakfast booth. Shouldn't he have something a little crazier or snobby? This is just a simple and plain kitchen...'

Walking over to the marble booth he ran a hand across the large crack made by Vlad in his angry and hurt state. "That...is some seriously crazy strength for a half ghost vegetable…." Picking up the bloodied bandages, he went over to the trash can under the sink and chunked them in.

Somberly, he looked up at the ceiling. 'Let him sleep for another hour. Then you can try and wake him up for food… For now Fenton? Those photos-...You need to double check…."

Morphing back into Danny Phantom, he casually flew over to the stove and cut down the burner.

Backing away from the stove and standing a few feet behind the island to avoid phasing through Vlad's bed or the adult, he jumped up and floated through the ceiling and back into the bedroom. Vlad wasn't where he left him.


End file.
